0.(^2- 



/ITP 






F 70 
.048 
Copy 2 






HENRY KEMBLE OLIVER 



?l 







'5^^'*// 






V 



HENRY KEMBLE OLIVER. 






■'^c'>'*^'"Als.fc^ 



Tn Exrh, 






From the Seventeenth Annual Report 

OP THE 

Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics op Labor 
1886. 



HENRY KEMBLE OLIVER. 



BY REV. JESSE H. JONES. 



On Wednesday evening, August 12, 1885, General Henry 
K. Oliver, the first chief of this Bureau, died. His large 
and manifold powers, the high attainments which he made, and 
the various important positions in the Commonwealth which he 
filled ; but especially his eminent services as the founder of 
the work of this Bureau, becoming thereby the pioneer of all 
such work in the world, render it fitting that a memorial of 
him should be made by the Bureau in this Eeport. 

Early Years. 

Henry Kemble Oliver (originally Thomas Henry, but 
changed apparently to preserve the name of his mother) was 
born in North Beverly, Essex County, in this State, on Mon- 
day, November 24, 1800. He was the third and youngest son, 
and eighth child of the nine children, of He v. Daniel and 
Elizabeth (Kemble) Oliver. He was in the sixth generation 
from Thomas Oliver, surgeon, who with his wife Ann and eight 
children came over from Bristol, England, in the ship Lion, 
along with the family of Governor Winthrop, landing at Bos- 
ton, June 5, 1632 ; and who was one of the founders of the 
First Church of that town and a Kuling Elder in it. His 



4 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

mother, daughter of Thomas Kemble, Esq., of Boston, was 
descended from Thomas and Margaret Kemble, who came over 
to that city in 1640. Both families had remained there from 
the first. His ancestors in the direct line on his father's side, 
after Surgeon Oliver, were three merchants (the third a gradu- 
ate of Harvard, and all three of marked eminence), one lawyer, 
and one minister, his father. The Olivers were connected by 
marriage with various leading families of the State, — with the 
Hutchinsons, Wendells, Brattles, Belchers, and Bradstreets. 
His father's mother was sister to the grandfather of Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, and the same blood which ran in his veins, 
and in the veins of the illustrious physician-poet, ran also in 
those of Wendell Phillips, clarum nomen, whose personal 
efibrt, as much at least as that of any, brought this Bureau 
into existence. Down to a few years ago the family had sup- 
plied forty out of the forty-five of the Oliver alumni names at 
Harvard and Dartmouth. Plainly, then, from the choicest of 
that choice seed-wheat which God sifted the whole nation of 
England to get, wherewith to plant a new nation in New Eng- 
land, this man sprang. 

The father, Rev. Daniel Oliver, was a minister of rigid ortho- 
doxy, after the strict, Puritan type. He graduated from Dart- 
mouth in 1785, was pastor of the North Church, Boston, from 
1787 to 1800, preached in Beverly one year, and in Exeter, 
N. H., a short time ; after which, in 1802, he brought his family 
back to Boston to remain, while he himself went forth as a mis- 
sionary to the Indians, going for years on long and wearying 
horseback rides from place to place in what were then the west- 
ern wilds, preaching the Gospel to the dusky savages of the 
forest. 

The fiimily being now settled in Boston, Henry Kemble in 
due time attended the Mayhew school there ; and prepared for 
college partly in the Latin school, partly at Phillips Academy, 
Andover, and partly with an elder brother in a private school ; 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 5 

and he was by this brother entered at Harvard in 1814, at the 
age of thirteen years and eight months. Surely the boy gave 
promise of what the man would be. 

After two years his father removed him to Dartmouth, chiefly 
at least because he looked with strong disfavor upon what he 
considered the growing theological laxity of Harvard. In 
1818 he was graduated by hoth colleges, certainly a singular 
and very unusual mark of high esteem. Concerning himself 
at this time, he has left these remarks : 

" Ou leaving college, ... I had a not very large amount of schol- 
arly knowledge, and that chiefly in Latin and Greek, but I had 
excellent health, thoroughly pure moral habits and moral principles. 
I had a natural aversion to intoxicating drinks and tobacco, and all 
forms of dissipation, and a moral dread of bad or dangerous com- 
pany and excesses. While in college an evening passed in the prac- 
tice of music or in visiting families where music, especially sacred 
music, was practised, was the greatest pleasure I desired." 

For a number of months he found only occasional and trifling 
employments, but in the early summer of the following year 
he had gained the fit place in which to begin his career. In 
May he applied for the position of usher in the newly estab- 
lished Latin grammar school at Salem, and received the appoint- 
ment. 

Teacher at Salem. 

On Saturday, June 12, 1819, he, "a beardless youth" of 
eighteen years and seven months, took the stage for that city, 
and arriving there " was welcomed as a member of the house- 
hold of the late Rev. Dr. Browne Emerson, pastor of the South 
Church." By a son of his host, then a lad, and to be one of 
his pupils, he is spoken of at this time as " a fine, good-looking, 
even handsome young man, fresh from Dartmouth College, 
and full of all sorts of college pranks and college learning." 



6 HENEY K. OLIVER. 

The schoolroom, in which he was to teach, "had seats for 
eighty boys, and was crowded with a hundred and twenty boys, 
— an unmanageable mass, but that a third teacher. Master Parker, 
.... took the younger classes into the committee room for 
recitation." Of the spirit in which he began his work he him- 
self thus writes : 

" I entered upon my work as teacher on the following Monday, 
June 14th, 1819, with very great ' fear and trembling,' and entire dis- 
trust in my own abilities, knowledge and ultimate success. This 
self-distrust has always characterized me and has impeded my 
labors ; but I determined to work hard in school and out, and if that 
would secure success, no effort on my part should be wanting." 

From the first he felt poorly furnished for his work. His 
early studies "were not congenial, consisting mostly, after he 
was nine, of mere translations from Latin and Greek into 
English, with very insufficient instruction in any English 
studies." As expressing his own judgment in his riper years 
he says : 

«' My intellectual powers had not been properly and philosophi- 
cally cultivated On the whole, the nine years spent in pre- 
paring for college and in college I have always considered a failure ; 
and but for the hard, close, unyielding perseverance of the nine 
years that followed graduation, I should, as a scholar, have been a 
greater failure. But finding, when I commenced teaching, my im- 
perfections, I set about a course of self -education, first in the studies 
in which I was guiding others, then in French, then in Spanish and 
Italian, adding afterwards a wide course of mathematics and philos- 
ophy, general literature and history, with astronomy." 

It is of special interest as showing the power of his mind 
to grow, and grasp, and enlarge its aptitudes, to know that 
whereas in youth he had no relish for mathematics, he came 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 7 

at length, as the result of his determined studying, to have in 
them a positive delight. 

This course he pursued alone, this ** battle he fought out un- 
aided," except as he "consulted that well-known and accurate 
Greek scholar, the late Hon. John Pickering." 

"Feeling," he continues, "the great deficiencies of my previous 
education, and the constant push of the demands made upon me by 
the pupils, I was merciless to mj^self, studying as many hours out of 
school as I taught within. What I thus acquired I have never for- 
gotten." And he still further says, " My unvarying rule in the 
classics was to keep myself as thoroughly prepared on every author 
in the hands of everj^ class in school, as existing facilities would 
allow, keeping myself a fortnight in advance of their several lessons ; 
and never entering the schoolroom but with the certainty that no 
question could be brought to me that I could not at once answer." 

It was this hard studentship and the mastery thus acquired, 
which caused it to be said of him in after years, — 

" He was a diligent student, and a fine classical scholar. The 
classics were his delight, and to the day of his death he had not for- 
gotten the beautiful passages from the Greek and Roman writers 
which he had early learned ; and the sharp, clear sentences which he 
always wrote showed how the Athenian style had taken fast hold 
upon his mind. His command of words was something wonderful, 
and his vocabulary seemed inexhaustible." 

He rose constantly in the estimation of men. His salary at 
first was $600 a year, a quite munificent sum for those days, 
rarely, if ever, paralleled for so young a man ; and now con- 
sidered to be more in proportion than the $1,500 which is now 
paid for much older men in the same relative position. Yet 
once and again his salary was increased, October 1, 1822, to 
$750, and in June, 1824, to $900. He was selected as the 



8 HENEY K. OLIVER. 

orator of the day in Salem for the Fourth of July, 1824, and 
acquitted himself so creditably that his oration was long remem- 
bered and spoken of highly. Besides the eloquence of his 
style, it is especially mentioned that he " dwelt with much 
enthusiasm on the cause of the Greeks," who were then striv- 
ing for independence; and with burning words "denounced 
the melancholy exception to the purity of our institutions, the 
scourge and curse of negro slavery " and also " the persecution 
of the Indians in Georgia ;" and that he paid an earnest tribute 
to Lafayette, closing Avith a glowing apostrophe which has been 
preserved. In 1827, when at length the English High School 
was established, on the 16th of June he was appointed princi- 
pal with a third increase of salary, now to $1,000. 

On Monday, July 9, 1830, Master Oliver resigned his 
position, and directly after set about building a two-story 
schoolhouse near his own home on Federal street, for a private 
academy. In the construction and appointments of this build- 
ing no pains were spared to introduce every excellency then 
known. Without, it had an ample playground and gymnastic 
apparatus. Within, it had a coat-room, wash-room, recitation 
rooms, and various apparatus. The following account of the 
school is from a Salem print : 

" The course of study laid down was extensive and complete, boys 
being prepared either for college, or for business life ; the latter course 
including the French and Spanish languages, and a very wide range 
in mathematics, history', and general literature. For the first time 
in any Salem school, if not for the first time in an}- school in this 
country, music was taught, and a regular course of gymnastic train- 
ing with suitable apparatus was provided. A very complete set of 
philosophical, astronomical, and chemical apparatus, costing upwards 
of $2,000 was procured, which enabled him to supplement his oral 

and book instruction by actual illustrations His school was 

always full, and, with the aid of able assistant teachers, he was en- 
abled to achieve a satisfactory success." 



/ 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 9 

After five years he yielded to the urgency of friends and 
changed his school over into one for girls, and '* his rooms 
were immediately filled." This school he continued to teach 
for eight years, when a very complimentary event withdrew 
him altogether from his profession, and changed his whole 
career. Here then we may pause and briefly survey in retro- 
spect his course of life. It was the year 1844. For twenty- 
five years he had been a teacher in Salem, and his course had 
been a steadily growing and unbroken success. It was a very 
remarkable career. Some clue to the secret of it we may gain 
from the following statements, chiefly made by former pupils, 
expressing the estimation in which he was held, and showing 
the work he had done and his manner of doing it. 

Mr. T>. H. Emerson, son of Rev. Browne Emerson in whose 
house he first lived at Salem, wrote to him in a letter of remi- 
niscences in 1878 thus : 

" You made the Latin school what it became while you were there, 
and I ascribe all the glory it acquired to you. You drilled us in the 
grammar and text-books. You compelled us to know all about 
them. You ground them into us. You were severe in that, and 
you succeeded with your pupils. Yet you were never severe in your 
treatment of those who were placed under your rule. Tliis is my 
testimony. With greatest respect and affection." 

The same ""entleman writino^ of him said ; 

" When I was but a youth he came to my father's house and all 
the time he continued there we felt that he was in that home as an 

elder brother, and as a son With all his decision of character 

he was never ci'uel or unjust. In that empire in which he wielded a 
sceptre, the Salem Latin School, he ever ruled by love. Himself a 
splendid scholar, he had patience with our dulness, and seemed to 
enjoy the pains he took to lead us forward in the paths of learn- 
ing." 



10 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

An old pupil writes : 

" We found him strict without petulanoy, exemplary in habits, firm 
and humane in correction, never losing temper. He punished if he 
found it needed, on his own responsibility, without referring to the 
senior master ; but often with his expressed approbation, saying, 
' Mr. Oliver, punish that boy well,' the only effect of which was, 
however, to emphasize the deliberateness of the punishment without 
increasing the amount. I never saw any sign of resentment on the 
part of the boys." 

Another writes : 

" Master Oliver was the idol of the boys of '19, '20, '21 ; and, 
therefore, it is as ' Master ' Oliver that we have ever loved to think 
and speak of him." 

Yet another writes : 

" No man held his scholars more by his potency of nature, his 
fine mind, his sympathy with youth, his many-sidedness. It is fifty 
years since, and yet his character shines in our memory with undi- 
minished brightness." 

Of his private school he himself said : 

" No fact laid down in the sciences as existing in those days, and 
within the grasp of the general school, failed to be illustrated ex- 
perimentally." 

Concerning discipline in his girls school, he also said : 

" During eight years of my instructing girls no instance occurred 
of what may be called punishment. To strike a girl was abhorrent 
to my nature ; nor did anything occur which needed that, or any 
other method of severity in discipline. Yet I had an average of 
fifty pupils." 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 11 

Rev. Joseph B. Felt in his history of Salem, also, pronounces 
this school, " the most complete and successful ever carried on 
in that citv." 

As an illustration of the truthfulness of the testimony borne 
concerning him, that " his teaching developed great interest 
and great proficiency in the scholars of all the schools in which 
he taught," Ave give the following fact. *' The senior class in 
the English High School between 1827 and 1830 computed all 
the solar eclipses of the 19th century between 1831 and 1900, 
visible in the United States." Can this be equalled, or any- 
thing like it given for that time? 

These sayings are great praise, such praise as only the ex- 
cellent of the earth win ; but they are the natural utterance of 
those who had felt the quickening power of his master soul. 
We glean from them a few phrases in which certain chief traits 
of his character appear : " Never severe ;" " never losing tem- 
per ;" " he ever ruled by love ;" " Master Oliver was the idol 
of the boys ;" "I never saw a sign of resentment on the part 
of the boys ;" ' ' no man held his scholars more by his potency 
of nature." 

Yes, " potency of nature" that is the crowning phrase, which 
includes all the truth contained in the other sayings. Let us 
try and unfold a little the reality that is in it, and so gain a 
larger and fuller knowledge of this nature which was so power- 
ful. 

This youth, this man, this teacher, this *' Master" of youth 
was a wide, deep, strenuous river of human vitality flowing 
upon and through those in his charge. He maintained com- 
plete government, kept clockwork order and precision, and 
worked his scholars to the hight of their bent ; and yet there 
was no domineering spirit in the man, nothing of tyranny in 
his temper, or of harshness in his methods. He ruled, but not 
by will. He controlled, but not by fear. Rather it was his 
own strong, abounding life which quickened the very fountains 



12 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

of the life of his pupils, making them Avish to do what he would 
have them do, and awakening in them the desire to strive and 
the effort to achieve, beyond what could have arisen in them of 
themselves. By this power he belonged to that class of teach- 
ers, few and rare, who are of the first order, of whom Mrs. 
Emma Willard of Troy, N. Y., and President Mark Hopkins of 
Williamstown, Mass., are illustrious examples. 

During the period which now came to a close the following 
events personal to himself had occurred. In 1821 he moved 
his father's family to Salem, and assumed their support. Dur- 
ing 1824 he was studying for the ministry, with a view to 
entering the Episcopal Church, and a sermon which he com- 
posed is extant ; but becoming Unitarian in his views he gave 
the matter up. In 1825 he married Sarah, daughter of Capt. 
Samuel Cook, a retired sea-captain, by whom he had, in all, 
seven children, two sons and five daughters. In 1836 he was 
elected a member of the first Common Council of Salem, and 
was twice re-elected. 

When " Master" Oliver closed his school, and changed the 
whole course of his life, he had arrived at the full maturity of 
his powers ; and they were marked by largeness of nature, 
strength, intellectuality, and gentleness. All the best that was 
in him had been displayed. Henceforth there was to be rather 
the varied application of his powers in larger spheres of 
action than the growth and expansion of those powers. We 
turn now to consider the new direction of his activity. 



Adjutant-General. 

The very complimentary event by which his professional 
work as a school teacher was brought to an end, and he was 
set instead in a large field of public affairs, was his appoint- 
ment, March 22, 1844, by Governor George N. Briggs, upon 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 13 

the recommendation of Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, as adjutant- 
general of the State. This altogether strange event, by which 
the master of a girls school was put in charge of the military 
affairs of a great State came about as follows : 

In 1821 the young teacher enlisted in the Salem Light In- 
fantry. He had an erect, soldierly figure, and strong, military 
aptitudes ; and this company was to him like a military school 
in which he acquired a good degree of military knowledge and 
training. So marked were his capacities and acquirements, 
that at different times he was pressed to accept a commission, 
but steadily declined. When, however, in 1833, he, still a 
private, was elected lieutenant-colonel of the newly organ- 
ized Sixth Regiment (the same which made itself so famous 
in Baltimore in 1861), he accepted, and three years after was 
made its colonel. As showiug how efficient an officer he was, 
the following incident is related. 

"On the occasion of Governor Edward Everett's visit to 
Salem, September 22, 1837, the Governor said that he never 
saw regimental manoeuvres performed with equal rapidity out- 
side of the regular army," as they were then performed by 
Colonel Oliver's regiment. 

In 1839 he resigned his colonelcy ; but his fine and noble 
gifts had been brought clearly to view. His splendid personal 
appearance, his athletic form, his military bearing, his power 
to command, his abundant knowledge and thorough training, 
all went to make him a well-nigh ideal officer. We may feel 
certain that he was not surpassed, perhaps he was not 
equalled, by any military officer in the Commonwealth at that 
time. So when we know the man, it does not then seem so 
strange that the head of a girls school was made the head of 
the military afiairs of the State. 

With the moderate salary of $1,500, and no allowances, he 
set himself "earnestly at work, and soon had matters in 
hand." " He made personal visits to the various regiments ; 



14 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

. . . attended all the parades of the several brigades and regi- 
ments, arranged for drills and instruction of commissioned and 
non-commissioned officers, with a sufficient number of privates 
to make battalions of 150 to 200 men, and took personal 
charge of them. . . . Thus interest was excited in the infan- 
try, and the service was soon improved." 

In INIay, 1846, the Mexican war being in progress, the 
national government called for troops, and by direction of 
Governor Briggs General Oliver took charge of raising and 
officering the regiment which Massachusetts sent out to that 
service under the command of Colonel Caleb Cushino;. This 
regiment entered the city of iNIexico with the army of General 
Scott. 

In the 3'ear 1838 Colonel Oliver had been elected first 
lieutenant of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company 
of Boston ; and now, eight j^ears later (1846), as General 
Oliver he was elected captain, the highest social, military 
position in the State. 

In the following year CI 847) he was appointed by President 
Polk a member of the Board of Visitors of the Military 
Academy at West Point, and was made its secretary. But in 
the midst of 2:atherino: honors and efficient labors he was called 
to new duties in a wholly diverse sphere of action. 



Superintendent of the Atlantic Cotton Mills. 

If the appointment of a teacher of a girls school to be 
adjutant-general of a great State, if the preferring one then 
in civil life before all the older militia officers of that State 
and setting him over them, and if the complete success of 
tliis officer both in his personal relations to the men and in 
his whole administration of the affiiirs committed to his 
charge, do all together seem like a leaf torn out of a 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 15 

romance, rather than a chapter of sober prose in this plain, 
prosaic century ; hardly less strange is the next movement 
in the life of this extraordinary man, by which he, who had 
never run a spindle or loom, or handled a pound of cotton in 
any practical way, and who knew nothing more of a cotton 
mill than might be learned by walking casually through one, 
was called to be superintendent of a cotton mill not yet in 
existence. Having been appointed to this position by the 
directors and treasurer of the "Atlantic Cotton Mills," a 
newly organized manufacturing corporation at Lawrence, he 
resigned his position as adjutant-general, January 15, 1848, 
and repaired at once to that city. There he found one mill 
erected, but only the walls and flooring, no part of its " fitting 
up," that is, of its shafting, elevators, closets, etc., being in 
position, nor any of its machinery set up. 

He at once went to Lowell, and devoted three months with 
Mr. Homer Bartlett, agent of the Massachusetts mill there, to 
acquiring a knowledge of the general management then in vogue 
of large cotton mills, to selecting overseers, second hands, etc. ; 
and to watching the several stages in the process of manufac- 
turing the goods from the bale to the cloth. 

On the fifth of July the machinery began to be delivered at 
his own mill, and with his newly selected overseers, and with- 
out any outside assistance, he did all the work of fitting, set- 
ting up, and starting the machinery ; getting it all running and 
beginning to turn out cloth in October. Their very first goods 
were of the finest grade, and were made from cotton known as 
"good middling," bought at seven cents a pound; and the 
General remarked with honorable pride, " a more beautiful arti- 
cle had not been placed upon the market. They have always 
kept a lead in the trade." 

In nine months this man had learned a complicated and dif- 
ficult manufacturing business, of which he before knew nothing, 
had selected with Mr. Bartlett's assistance his staff" of subordi- 



16 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

nate officials, every one of whom were unknown to him when 
he began, had tal^en an empty shell of a building, and he and 
they together had set up all the machinery in it, and in less 
than four months from the time they began to set it up had it 
in complete successful operation, turning out the best of goods. 
Such a work was the manifestation of extraordinary, perhaps 
of wholly unique powers. 

In July of this year (1848), his family moved to Lawrence. 
The next vear a second mill was built under his charoje ; and 
equipped and run with the same success as attended the other ; 
and in 1850 yet a third mill was built. Otherwise his life as 
superintendent was in the nature of the case monotonous, and 
few incidents can be recalled. A general survey of the field 
with the statement of the chief reasons for his success, so far 
as we have been able to gather them, will set the man and his 
work in Lawrence sufficiently before us. , 

The first of his powers were rare keenness, quickness, pene- 
tration and scope of mind, by which he seized at once and held 
in masterful grasp whatever he set his mind upon. And these 
qualities were equally shown in the realm of things and the 
realm of persons. He saw into the system of a cotton mill, 
comprehended it as a whole, and mastered it in detail in five 
months. He could brigade a mill or a State with equal readi- 
ness and success. And he had such power to grow that he in- 
troduced improvements or supervised others in doing so with 
a readiness equal to that of experts trained in the matter from 
their youth. But his power to read persons was quite equal to 
his power to penetrate things. He knew a man when he saw 
him. His great gray eye was like the eye of fate. His was 
indeed an eagle glance. So marvellous was this power that 
only they who experienced it could really have the full sense 
of what he was in this regard. 

The next of his powers was his personal magnetism, his 
power over men whereby he so touched and quickened them in 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 17 

the very fountains of their life, that they instinctively desired 
to do what he would have done ; and thus he secured from 
them, whether he was present or absent, their best service. 

A third power, closely allied to this, was his pure sincer- 
ity, a source of perennial good will which flowed a clear, living 
stream from the depths of his own life in sweet purposes and 
wise actions for the welfare of all in his charge. By the work- 
ing together of the last two powers in him he drew to himself 
the excellent men, the line, well-skilled, and growing young 
men ; and when they came it was to stay, and so well pleased 
were they that they drew others after them also. Thus it was 
that he gathered round him a class of overseers much superior 
to what is often found in mills. 

And Avhat were all these powers, as in happy radiance they 
were shed forth in Lawrence in constant glory of well-doing, 
but that same "potency of nature" which bound with silken 
cord his scholars to him when he was a school teacher, even 
from his early youth? In a slight incident which he relates, 
this kingly gentleness wherein his influence over others so 
largely lay is well displayed, and we present it here. 

" A girl had appropriated to her own use a piece of cloth from 
her loom, pinning it about her waist under her clothing, and it had 
become loosened and dropped upon the ground, as she with the rest 
of the help was leaving the mill-yard at evening. It was picked up 
by an overseer, and brought with the girl to me, standing at the 
time [as he often did] on the mill-steps seeing the crowd go out. 
The poor girl trembling and mortified, stood amidst shouts of laugh- 
ter, doubtless anticipating some severity at my hands. Knowing 
that not she alone of all the weavers had done this kind of wrong, I 
waited awhile till silence ensued, and then holding up the piece of 
cloth, said, ' Let her among you who never did the like say how this 
girl shall be punished.' Nobody spoke, but they all quietly walked 
away ; and then, tossing the cloth to the offender, I said, ' Go, and 
sin no more.' I have always thanked Him who first dealt with an 



18 HENEY K. OLIVER. 

offender thus, that I remembered his example. I suppose the poor 
girl, like the most of her comrades, was sorely pinched by poverty, 
and could not withstand the temptation. ' Forgive us our debts, as 
we forgive our debtors ; ' yet if we are not forgiven a good deal 
more than we forgive, we shall have a hard time of it." 

Another illustration of his natural impulse toward his fel- 
low-men was shown in connection with a fatal accident which 
happened at the mills one winter. 

Sometimes in winter the ice would form or drift against the 
rack (which was set at the upper end of the flume to keep off 
flood-wood and the like from the wheel) to such an amount 
and solidity that it was necessary for men to get on the mass, 
break it up, and get the fragments away, so that the water 
would have free course to run through. On one occasion, in 
the winter of 1855, when three men were thus working, the 
pressure was so great that the rack gave way and was carried 
down instantly on to the great waterwheel, and one of the 
three men was swept away with it, while one of the others 
sprang out, and one fell in just at the side. When the rack 
gave way the General, hearing the crash, sprang to the spot 
and, leaping down upon the timber that had given way in the 
middle but yet held in place at the end, seized the man who 
had fallen in as he rose, but lost his hold being pulled away 
by a watchman who thought he was also falling in, and the 
man again sank. Assuring the watchman that he was safe, 
and stooping still farther down, as the man rose to the surface 
a second time, he grasped him with a firmer hold, and dragged 
him out. 

The largeness and manifoldness of General Oliver had their 
widest field and fullest display in Lawrence. And the fruits 
of his varied activities were many and lasting. One instance 
was his work in improving Lawrence Common, a lot of eigh- 
teen acres, which in 1849 was an uninteresting field with few 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 19 

trees upon it. The Essex Company gave this lot to the city 
upon conditions that $300 a year be expended upon it, and 
that the superintendents of three manufacturing companies, 
which were named, together with the mayor of the city con- 
stitute a committee to take charge of it and expend the money. 
The Atlantic mills was one of the companies named; and 
Superintendent Oliver was made chairman of the committee, 
and the whole work was placed in his charge. By 1853 five 
hundred trees had been planted "in avenues, and cared for 
until rooted and established," and the rude, unsightly field in 
due time became " a very fine public square." " His interest 
in the park never flagged, and whenever he met a Lawrence 
man his inquiry was for his trees on the common." 

Another of his public spirited good works was the establish- 
ment of a Free Library in his mill. To accomplish this, he 
" called together the overseers in 1851, and told them that if 
they would organize themselves into a library association, 
with suitable officers, he would commence the library with a 
donation of a hundred volumes, and a loan of $50 for new 
purchases. This was done ; and by consent of the treasurer, 
Mr. William Gray, a room was fitted up in the counting-room 
building, and the library commenced. Mr. Gray added valu- 
able donations." Sometime since the number of volumes had 
increased to 3,500. He also established free hot and cold 
baths in a building in the rear of the mill. 

Naturally, from his former avocation, feeling a deep interest 
in the educational afiairs of the new town, and havino- been 
elected a member of the school committee, he proposed that 
as soon as a high school should be established, he would con- 
vey to the city for use in such school all the school apparatus 
that he had collected for his own school at Salem. This was 
done ; and in recognition of the gift the building in which the 
high school was first established (and which is the largest 
school building in Lawrence) was called the Oliver School 



20 HENEY K. OLIVER. 

House. He also presented to the high school for its prin- 
cipal room a set of busts and statuettes, and of engravings for 
its walls ; and many books of reference, Latin, Greek, and 
mathematical, for the use of teachers and pupils. 

In 1853 he was sent as a delegate to the Constitutional Con- 
vention, and was made chairman of the committee on military 
affairs. 

In the same year occurred the notable case of his "famous 
effort to deposit his vote " at a turbulent town meeting, in 
which his courage, vigor, strength, and intense love of free- 
dom and the exercise of one's legal rights, were so effectively 
manifested. The town meeting was holden to vote on the 
acceptance of the city charter, and the moderator had made 
a decision by which the Democrats deemed themselves ag- 
grieved, and they determined to block the way to the ballot- 
box, and prevent voting. So 

" . . . in an instant the avenues to the platform were blocked 
by a mass of angry, excited men, and the prospect of a row was un- 
usually promising. The ballot-boxes could not be reached, and 
everything but arms and tongues were at a stand-still. At this 
instant General Henry K. Oliver entered the hall, and stood for a 
moment near the door to enquire into the occasion of the singular 
spectacle. On being informed of the situation of affairs his eyes 
flashed, and exclaiming, ' I should like to see the man who dares 
resist my casting a vote in a legal meeting,' he strode down the open 
space, thi'usting aside one or two opposers, and quickly elbowed his 
way through the outer circle of the crowd, until he came to the solid 
mass blocking his way ; when, placing his hands upon the shoulders 
of the two nearest men, he sprang up upon the mass, and was 
rapidly making his way, vote in hand, over heads and shoulders 
to the ballot-box, when he was seized by the skirts of his coat ; but 
leaving one of them roughly torn away in the hands of his opposers, 
he reached the box, and placed therein his ballot. This success, no 
less than the ludicrousness of the movement, was too much for the 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 21 

solidity of the Democratic column. Good nature was restored, and 
the voting went on." 

Wherein his great power lay is well disclosed in the follow- 
ing remark made by a Lawrence paper in its obituary of 
him : 

" In Lawrence the stalwart figure of the General, physically one 
of the finest specimens of manhood ever resident among us, will be 
long remembered. His trained voice, and ability as a public speaker 
and leader, whenever political, musical, or public matters were dis- 
cussed, made him a prominent figure in evei"y assembly." 

After a prosperous run of the mills in 1855, the treasurer, 
as an expression of his satisfaction at the result, placed in 
General Oliver's hands the means to defray the expense of a 
course of six lectures. Of these Hon. Josiah Quincy gave one, 
and General Oliver four on astronomy, illustrated with large 
diao-rams and a maofic lantern. To these were added six con- 
certs given by a chorus of a hundred singers selected from 
among the operatives of the mill, and trained by competent 
instructors under General Oliver's supervision. Both lec- 
tures and concerts were given in a hall over the counting- 
room of the Pacific mills, and were all free to the mill people. 
So successful were the concerts that one of them was repeated 
by special request in the city hall to an operative audience, 
admitted free, of more than 1,500 persons. 

In 1857 the ladies of Lawrence presented General Oliver 
with a gold watch "as a slight token of their sincere regard 
and esteem, and as a pledge of their confidence in him, as a gen- 
tleman of generous and noble impulses and of the highest 
moral principles and sentiments." 

Nine years had well-nigh passed away since the work of set- 
ting up the machinery had begun ; and on May 25 of this year 



22 HENEY K. OLIVEE. 

(1857) he received a letter from the treasurer couched in 
flattering terms, announcing the successful run of the past year, 
the profit made, and asking him to add $500 a year to his 
salary, making it $3,500. In October following he "was 
amazed and thunderstruck at receiving" quite another kind of 
letter, which resulted in his being discharged from the service 
of the company ; and to his dying da}'-, although he at various 
times endeavored so to do, he could never get a single word as 
a clue to show the reason for the treatment inflicted on him. 

Before the severing of his connection with the company, 
General Oliver secured an examination of the mill property 
and accounts by experts, who reported the mill in complete 
order, and the accounts correct. 

Concerning the cause of the event above stated enough is 
now known to show that his great and generous heart, by 
which he sj^mpathized so keenly with the operatives that he 
shrank from cuttins: down wages as one w^ould shrink from 
fire, was in large measure the cause. Thus came the first 
great shadow over his life. 

From his peculiar and intimate relations with the overseers, 
it was quite appropriate that he should address them, as he did, 
a farewell letter. To this they sent him a letter in response, 
the chief portions of which are here given. 

"In reviewing the ten years of your connection with us, they 
really seem like a pleasant dream, so unruffled their general aspect, 
and rapid their flight. True there has been an occasional cloud, 

.... but all have been satisfactorily resolved On the 

whole, the remark in your letter that ' unity of opinion and coopera- 
tive good will have marked our whole course,' is truly just, and one 
to which we heartily respond. 

"You will doubtless pardon us for taking the liberty of pointing 
out somewhat in detail the leading characteristics which have dis- 
tinguished your administration from some others with which we have 
been familiar during our history in manufacturing. While their sole 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 23 

policy has been to secure the greatest possible amount of service for 
the least possible amount of money, your administration has been 
characterized, not only by a fair and just regard for the company's 
interests, by requiring close attention and application on the part of 
all employed ; but, farther than this, you have uniformly manifested 
a zealous regard for every instrumentality which could be made to 
contribute to their mental, moral, and religious welfare. 

"Among the various enterprises to this end allow us to mention 
that at an early day in our history your generous donation of one 
hundred volumes, which formed the nucleus of our now extensive 
library, claims a prominent place, and commands our highest com- 
mendation and gratitude 

" It also affords us great pleasure to advert to the fact that, while 
our mental wants have been thus supplied, our love for the beautifnl 
in nature has not been overlooked : for our yard, instead of being 
left to present a desolate, prison-like appearance, has (in accord- 
ance with your taste and skill) been made to blossom as the rose, 
presenting through the flowering seasons, in rich abundance, those 
representations of all that is beautiful in nature. Who among us has 
not been admonished by the language of those beautiful flowers, in- 
citing to lives of purity, innocence and virtue. 

"Another idea originating with you was the erection of bathing 
rooms for general use among the operatives, which have largely con- 
tributed both to their general health, and to their pleasure. 

"And still another, never-to-be-forgotten; — we refer to those 
moral and instructive entertainments in the form of lectures and 
concerts, in which you were pleased to mingle with us as one of us, 
without regard to distinction or caste. This is truly an anomaly in 
manufacturing, and found only (to our knowledge) in your adminis- 
tration. 

" We also feel greatly indebted to you for the interest manifested 
in regard to the proper keeping of the Sabbath, and attendance upon 
public worship ; as also for your agency in securing free seats in the 
various churches, that none, however poor, need be excluded for 
want of sittings. In connection with this topic we would name 
another fact (peculiar to yourself) , that, while you have been frank 



24 HENEY K. OLIVER. 

and free in expressing j^our own religious and political views, 
you have accorded to others the same rights and privileges un- 
molested. 

" But lastly, .... it is well known throughout this community 
that all the public spirited enterprises of this city, — and especially 
the establishment of the Oliver grammar and high school, have, 
from the first, received your hearty cooperation and beneficent dona- 
tions. In our opinion it is but just to say, our public schools owe 
their present flourishing condition and standing, mainly to your un- 
tiring interest and efforts in their behalf 

" In conclusion, permit us to express our sincere desires that long 
life, with health, happiness and prosperity may attend you here, and 
a blessed immortality await you hereafter. 

(Signed) J. M. RICHARDS, 

ELISHA WINCH, 
NEWMAN S. FOSTER, 

Committee. 

Plainly General Oliver was before his time. In him we see 
a luminous ideal and prophecy of what a superintendent is to 
be in the coming age, when the spirit of the Crucified shall 
rule in a cotton mill, as fully as in the life of a saint. 

The people of Lawrence appreciated the man who had done 
so much for their municipality, even if the corporation whose 
working force he had created failed to do so, and in November 
they elected him mayor, so that he filled that office during the 
year 1859. In the election of this year he was sent as repre- 
sentative to the General Court for 1860. During this period 
he served occasionally also as agent of the State Board of Edu- 
cation, visiting the public schools in various parts of the State, 
and attendinof institutes and conventions. 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 25 



Treasurer of the Commonwealth. 

The high esteem in which General Oliver was held through- 
out the State was shown in a very marked way in the autumn 
of 1860 by his nomination for the office of Treasurer of the 
Commonwealth on the same ticket with John A. Andrew. 
He was four times re-elected, and thus became the war treas- 
urer, as Andrew became the war governor. And it may not 
be too much to say that he did his full share in his place, as 
Governor Andrew did in his, to maintain Massachusetts in that 
leadership of all the loyal States, which she took from the start. 

We can hardly imagine what his work really was, but some 
facts may help us in a measure. When he took the office 
there were but two clerks in it. When he left it there were 
thirty-two, including all departments, an increase made neces- 
sary by the variety and vastness of the financial operations 
which the war caused. During his five years of office he han- 
dled $77,780,843.51, — a sum greater by $18,125,204.34 than 
all the receipts of the State for the sixty years of the century 
before. In the last year alone (1865), his financial operations 
amounted to $24,876,163.77, and he had in charge sinking and 
other funds to the amount of $8,701,509.64. Moreover, 
wholly beyond the regular duties of his office, he was made 
virtual paymaster of all the troops which Massachusetts raised, 
for the various periods before they were mustered into the 
United States service ; and went about from post to post as 
the occasion required, carrying the funds with him and paying 
the troops. Besides all the rest he was made the caretaker 
of bounty money to the amount of $635,297.90, which it was 
no part of his duty to receive or have any charge of, but which 
he took at the request of Governor Andrew because there 
seemed to be no other person to take it. When the interest 
had accumulated on this sum to the amount of $9,800, and the 



26 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

attorney-general had given his written opinion that this 
money belonged to the party who had taken care of the prin- 
cipal, General Oliver, having too fine a sense of honor to take 
it without a definite, legal title, referred the matter to the 
legislature. This body voted a petty $500 to the treasurer 
for his services, and turned the balance into the recruitment 
fund. 

The mere enumeration of his services at the close of his five 
years' term (the constitutional limit) "filled six pages of an 
octavo legislative document (House Doc't No. 226, 1865)." 
He had received and paid out, that is, twice handled, a sum 
amountino^ in round numbers to 155 millions of dollars once 
handled, had been under bonds of $100,000 renewed every 
year ; and for all this immense care and labor he had received 
an average annual salary of $2,300. And when, at the close 
of his term of service the legislature learned from him the 
facts, it promptly raised the salary to $5,000 for his successor; 
hut it did nothing for him. 

The story of his action in saving the credit of the State in 
June, 1864, has been often told, and does not need to be 
repeated here. But there is one element in the story, never to 
our knowledge brought out, which deserves to be especially 
mentioned. This man, who had too fine a sense of honor to 
take the interest money without an explicit legal title, had 
equally too fine a sense of responsibility to take the risk 
of promising more interest on the State loan than the law pro- 
vided, without making adequate provision to meet the same, if 
the legislature did not approve his act. And so he and his 
wife, of their own accord, dedicated their little patrimony 
to this end, if the need should be, well knowing that they ran 
the risk of being stripped of their last dollar. And after this 
joint act of sacrifice by the two in their heart, the husband went 
cheerily on to the street, and arranged for the amount needed. 
Such was the man, who served his native State with abundant 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 27 

capacity and perfect rectitude in her dire period of stress and 
storm. 

Massachusetts, with honest pride in righteous doing, gained 
for herself the high honor of paying in gold during and after 
the war every debt incurred in gold before the war, and so 
keeping her faith with her creditors unbroken ; and her war 
treasurer did his full share towards this achievement. By 
reason of his character and capacity in part it could be said at 
the close of the war, "yet the fiscal affairs of the Common- 
wealth, notwithstanding the strain to which they have been 
subjected, are in tlie highest degree satisfactory ; and th'* 
financial credit of Massachusetts stands unsurpassed at home 
and abroad." No one, we think, can survey the whole field of 
this service, and become familiar with the facts, without coming 
to the conclusion that the character which the war treasurer 
displayed was a distinct honor to the Commonwealth, and that 
for the labors he performed, the burdens he bore, and the ser- 
vices he rendered there is still due him a distinct debt. 

In January, 1866, the man who had rendered these gigantic 
services to his native State went out of his office by constitu- 
tional limitation, without a place and without an income. 
Upon his election as treasurer he had moved back to Salem, 
and was now dwelling in the ancestral mansion which his wife 
had inherited from her father, and around which the most 
sacred associations of his early manhood were gathered. After 
but a few days, namely, on the 26th of this month, his Avife 
died, but he continued to keep house, his daughters acting as 
housekeepers. 

Bureau of Statistics or Labor. 

In September, 1867, Governor Bullock gave General Oliver 
an appointment " to look into the condition of the factory chil- 
dren in the various establishments of the State ; " and he con- 



28 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

tinned in this work nearly two years, *' finding the several laws 
relating to their employment when under ten years of age, 
when between ten and fifteen years of age, and to their school- 
ing, violated every where." He *' prepared two reports on the 
subject which excited not a little attention and comment." 

On the 23d of June, 1869, Governor Claflin approved the 
bill for the establishment of this Bureau, and July 31 following 
appointed General Oliver its chief. Of his fitness for the 
place, both as to spirit and capacity, the foregoing narrative 
gives abundant evidence. Of his work here done we need not 
qjeak at length. The four volumes of his reports are his 
monument ; and as an evidence of the estimation in which they 
are held we may mention the fact that the Bureau frequently 
receives requests for them from various parts of the world. In 
judging of them it should be borne in mind that the field was 
Avholly new, that of precedents there were absolutely none, 
that he was the pioneer of all such work in the world ; and a 
fair judgment will decide that he worked with courage, fidelity, 
thoroughness, and much clear-sight. To have staked out the 
ground would have been a large work, but he did more. 
Some of the worst fallows in the field he vigorously set about 
breaking up. 

Experiments had to be tried, and he tried them. Some of 
his work struck at the roots of great evils, or erroneous opin- 
ions in society, and so awakened deep hostilities. This was 
inevitable. His reports weighed strongly in behalf of the wage 
workers. They could not be truthful without doing so ; and 
the larger and more complete they were in setting forth the 
actual facts, the more they must weigh on that side. At length 
with strong and heavy hand, but with accurate touch, he laid 
bare the tenement-house system of Boston ; and also made it 
plain that the savings banks of the Commonwealth were largely 
the storehouses in which the well-to-do people preserved their 
plenty out of the reach of taxation. Inevitably a storm Avas 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 29 

raised against hira, and when his second term expired he was 
not reappointed. 

Concerning his work there is no need that we speak further. 
But it is well-fitting that he himself should give his own view 
of it ; and to this end we present considerable extracts from 
his private memoranda, as follows : 

"To the duties of this office I gave my undivided attention, having 
to grope my way, unguided by precedent, example, or experience, — 
everything connected with our investigations being new, and nearly 
all of those investigations being rendered difficult and embarrassing 
b}'' the very strong and powerful influence of the employing class of 
the State, who with no sympathy in the subject-matter of our inqui- 
ries, withheld, as a general rule, all such information as our inquiries 
were directed to obtain. The laboring class as a whole, however, 
gave such support as their small means and unemployed time would 
permit. The inquiries were in their behalf, elicited their support, 
and gained their confidence 

. . . . I prepared, with the assistance of Mr. McNeill, four 
annual reports, upon the earnings, cost of living, and savings or 
indebtedness of the laboring classes of the State : their homes, 
education, habits of living, morals, manners, hours of labor, amuse- 
ments, societies of various sorts ; upon factory life, factory opera- 
tives, factory children, — the schooling of the latter, half-time 
schools, etc., etc. : in fact upon everything relating to the great 
question of labor and the laboring classes, skilled and unskilled, and 
to every grade and variety of them." 

Speaking of the savings banks, he says : 

" These banks were originally intended to be the managing deposi- 
taries of the poorer and working classes ; but we found by a very full 
investigation that while the banks were the resort of the poorer 
class in great excess [of numbers], (13 or 14 of them to 1 of the 
better-to-do class) , they were likewise the resort to a large extent of 
the latter class : and that (taking 1870 as an illustrative 3'ear) one- 



30 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

fourteenth of the whole number of deposits contributed three-sevenths 
of the whole amount deposited ; that of 47 millions deposited 
about 21 millions were deposited in sums of $300 and upwards, 
averaging $573 for each deposit, the remaining 26 millions being 
deposited in sums under $300, and averaging about $55 for each 
deposit. Now as the average earning for skilled labor that year was 
only about $700, out of which an average family was supported, it 
was plain that none of the first class of depositors were skilled 
laborers, but were of the wealthier folk above them ; and this 
showed that nearly half at least of the money in those banks was 
that of the better-to-do people." 

"Our revelations occasioned a great stir, and great excitement." 
" It soon became public opinion and yet remains so that these 
banks are largely used by the better-to-do classes, and even by capi- 
talists ; and that it cannot be argued with truth that the increase of 
their deposits is an indication of the prosperity of the working 
classes." 

Concerning factory children, he says : 

" We proved that very little regard was paid to the laws of the 
State in relation to the employment of children in factories, and to 
those requiring that these children should receive a certain amount of 
schooling each year ; and that children under ten years of age, not- 
withstanding legal prohibitions, were employed all over the State, 
and that in not a few instances factory children received from year 
to year no instruction whatever ; so that of the children of the State 
between 5 and 15 years of age, at least 10 per cent could not be 
accounted for as attending any school, public or private. Our deduc- 
tions were founded on the reports of the Secretary of the State 
Board of Education." 

" I left the Bureau in May, 1873, retiring with an entire con- 
sciousness that I had omitted no effort in endeavoring to do my 
whole duty ; and that, regardless of personal considerations, I had 
faithfully set forth the real status of the working people, — the real 
producers of the State." 



HENEY K. OLIVEE. 31 

One of bis peculiar qualifications for the place he filled in 
this Bureau was that he was a man of sympathetic heart, who 
ever saw the human in the poorest and lowliest of men. The 
following extract from an address illustrates this element of 
his character. 

On the 23d of June, 1874, the working people of Lawrence 
celebrated the passage of the ten hour law. Gen. Oliver 
was present, and was reported by the Journal of that city to 
have " closed an able speech with these noble words : 

" Before I close I wish to speak on a subject that is very dear to 
my heart. I speak it tenderly — it is that of the children. I have 
a little grandchild at home whom I love dearly, and whom I have 
spoiled — what grandfathers usually do. Among the many faces 
around me I see a number from over the water. Some of you will 
remember that, before the ten hour bill was passed, children were 
gathered up by employers from all over the country — from poor- 
houses and the sti'eets of the cities — and put to work in the facto- 
ries. Those children never returned to where they were taken from. 
They never were heard of after. The first Sir Robert Peel said, 
' Take care of the children.' Now the children are taken care of. 
And I want to see before I die the short-time schools of England 
established in this country, and no child under the age of fifteen 
years to be allowed to work over five liours a day. And I want you, 
the gainers by this measure, to see that the law relating to the em- 
ployment of children is strictly enforced. And now as I close and 
bid you good night, I will say what I said at a previous banquet in 
this city. A celebrated Queen of England once said that if her 
heart was opened after her death, on it would be found the word, 
' Calais.' Lord Ashley, now Earl of Shaftesbury, said that upon 
his heart would be found the words, ' Lancashire operatives.' If my 
heart could be seen under similar conditions, upon it would be found 
the words, ' Factory children.' " 

As an example of the marked intellectual qualifications of 
General Oliver to be chief of this Bureau, and of the hisfh 



32 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

appreciation which he awakened in those who were especially 
fitted to judge, w^e quote the following by Mr. George 
Holyoake, from his book entitled " Among the Americans." 

" Gen. H. K. Oliver was a name I had known in England in 
connection with questions of international industry. The social 
wisdom of his conversation, now I had the pleasure to be his guest, 
impressed me very distinctly. He explained to me that when in 
charge of this Bureau, he counselled workmen to provide themselves 
with a competence for their declining j^^ears ; — defining ' competence ' 
as that sum which, if invested in days of health and work (from 
earnings), would yield an income at a given age, equal to their 
average annual income, and sufficient to maintain them in the station 
in which they had moved. This is what I mean by wise talk, con- 
versation that moves steadily to new issues, and in which material 
terms are rendered definite. ' Competence ' is a term on many 
tongues, but Gen. Oliver was the first person whom I heard define 
it as he used it." 

These words, coming from one of England's foremost think- 
ers and writers on industrial questions, are certainly high 
praise. In them is reflected a single ray from this great and 
luminous soul. 

He ceased his labors in this Bureau in May, 1873, not being 
reappointed. All his great, unexampled, highly honorable 
services to the State seemed to him to have been forgotten ; 
and this man of keen spirit and high sense of honor was cut to 
the quick with the apparent injustice done him. He shared 
with all prophets and pioneers of human progress in all the 
ages past the sacrificial pain without which, it would seem, the 
advancement of mankind cannot be achieved. 

And now, as we close the record of this passage in his life, 
we venture the judgment that when he was made chief of 
this Bureau no other citizen of the Commonwealth was so well 
prepared, whether by natural endowments or by experience 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 33 

and training, for the work that tliere was to do ; and that both 
what he did and what he endured entitle him to the lasting; 
gratitude of all toilers, whom he so earnestly and with single- 
ness of mind served. 



A Judge at the Centennial. 

For about three years he "was almost entirely unemployed." 
In 1875 a school building in Salem was named after him, at 
the dedication of which he made the address. Also his birth- 
day was celebrated by his friends in Salem that year in a man- 
ner " long to be remembered." Early in April, 1876, he was 
appointed one of the judges at the International Centennial 
Exhibition, held in Philadelphia, Pa., and went there on the 
tenth of that month. He was assigned to Group XXV, which 
was devoted to " Instruments of Precision." This "included 
astronomical instruments of all sorts, trigonometrical and sur- 
veying instruments ; magnetic, electric, telegraphic, and tele- 
phonic instruments ; and microscopes. There were also added 
musical instruments of every variety from organs down ; " and 
these last being formed into a sub-group, he was made chair- 
man, and as such prepared the printed reports. Having fin- 
ished his duties and returned home, he was recalled in October 
to be one of the " Judges on Appeals." 



Mayor of Salem. 

While yet in Philadelphia he received in November a letter 
from Salem desiring him to accept a nomination for the mayor- 
alty of that city. He consented, and was elected and re- 
elected, serving in all four years. His administration was 
characterized by economy, reduction of expenses, great reduc- 



34 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

tion of the debt of the city, and a thorough visitation of the 
schools and discussion of their interests. When the municipal 
year of 1881 was approaching, the General, having rounded 
his full eighty years of life, declined a renomination. 



Closing Years. 

In December, 1880, he presided at the annual dinner of the 
alumni of the Boston Latin School; in May, 1881, at the 
annual dinner of the Unitarian Association given in Music 
Hall; October 21, at a banquet held at the Revere House in 
honor of the completion by Franz Liszt of his seventieth year ; 
and in November, at the annual dinner of the Association of 
the Alumni of the Boston grammar schools prior to 1831. 

In April, 1881, the fiimily removed for a year to Boston by 
the desire of his children, that he might have a better oppor- 
tunity for hearing concerts, lectures, etc. In July of that 
year the American Institute of Instruction, of which as '* Mas- 
ter Oliver" he was one of the founders in 1830, met at St. 
Albans, Vt. With a possible exception he was the sole sur- 
vivor of the original members. By request of the directors 
he prepared and delivered there a eulogy on George B. Emer- 
son, who had died in the March before. During the winter 
following he lectured twice before the Young Men's Christian 
Union, and delivered other addresses in Boston, Lawrence, 
and Haverhill. 

In April, 1882, he went to pass the summer at North Andover 
with a daughter, then recently married. The season being one 
of unusual heat, a weakness of the heart was developed, which 
ordinary remedies did not control ; and in the ensuing winter 
a fatal result was anticipated. More decided treatment, how- 
ever, restored a considerable measure of health as the spring 
drew on. In May following he returned to the old house in 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 35 

Salem, sacred to him by so many hallowed associations and 
tender recollections, and continued to reside there till his 
death. "He gave up attendance upon any public meetings, 
and went to the polls but once ; but spent most of his time in 
reading, and writing music, and articles for the press." 

At the annual meeting of the trustees of Dartmouth College, 
held in June, 1883, he was made Doctor of Music. A request 
having been made by President Bartlett of that institution the 
following year for a portrait, one was painted in the late 
autumn, and sent there in season for the Commencement of 
1885. Also, at the request of the present chief of this Bureau, 
a portrait in oil was provided and placed in the rooms of the 
Bureau. The letter of the chief acknowledging the portrait 
gave to the General the highest satis Miction. 

At length, in midsummer of last year, the time of the end 
came. On Sabbath evening, July 26, the final stroke fell, being 
a semi-paralysis of a portion of the brain not affecting the 
motor system. He lingered, gradually failing, until Wednes- 
day evening, August 12, when, as the gloaming was darkening 
over the earth, he peacefully fell asleep. On Monday follow- 
ing he was buried from the North Church, where he had wor- 
shipped so long, with the full honors of a reverent people. He 
has passed from the sight of men ; but his name shall live and 
his memory be cherished, we believe, while God shall be wor- 
shipped in song, and courage, purity, public beneficence, and 
high manliness shall be loved and honored amonof men. 



His Personal Appearance. 

In person General Oliver was a trifle less than six feet high, 
of square shoulders and massive frame. His head was 23| 
inches in circumference, and his brow was Websterian, — a 
beetling crag, underneath which his large, full-set, and lumin- 



36 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

ous gray eyes looked out with keen and kindly glance. His 
nose was Roman, his jaw square and strong; and the flesh 
hung on his face in folds like a vail, tremulous to every 
emotion of the sensitive soul that dwelt behind it. There was 
something of the mastiff in him, but the heart that beat in that 
grim and powerful frame was all alive with gentle humanness, 
and love of every virtue, and quick delight in every high, 
chivalric deed. 

Various expressions of judgment concerning him, which ap- 
peared in the press at the time of his decease, are quite worth 
preserving, as showing the general estimate in which he was 
held in the communities where he had resided. 

" In the death of General Oliver, Salem loses her foremost citizen. 
Judge Endicott and Dr. Loring are probably more widely known, 
but the general's long and varied career entitles him to the rank we 
have given him." 

" Gifted with a commanding presence, and with large and varied 
mental aptitudes, with an ear attuned to music and a voice of un- 
limited strength and compass [" a stentorian voice" it was called in 
Lawrence], he was a born leader. His powers as teacher, writer, 
student and executive officer were such as are rarely combined in the 
same person. But the strongest note in his character — the domi- 
nant chord — was the musical one, as will be surely testified by those 
who recall him (as the present writer does) in charge of this part 
of the service in the North Church, Salem, which he raised to choice 
excellence, as he did also that of the Unitarian Church in Law- 
rence." 

" Large-hearted, full of generous instincts and purposes, the poor 
of Lawrence had, during the early years of that city, no warmer and 
more constant friend than General Oliver. 

"In educational matters he was equally efficient. When superin- 
tendent of public schools, or as a private citizen, he could and did 
step in and fill the place of the high school principal, when that was 
temporarily vacant." 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 37 

"He was an industrious and unsparing student, his tastes leading 
him to the languages, and the physical and mathematical sciences. 
He was familiar with the Greek, Latin (which he wrote and spoke 
with great ease) , French, Spanish and Italian languages ; and, 
when a teacher, took great delight in pupils whose tastes led them in 
the same direction. He aimed especially at thoroughness and exact- 
ness in the study of the classics, and the scholars whom he fitted for 
college will bear testimony to his persevering and practical fidelity." 

" In whatever he was engaged General Oliver exhibited large 
intellectual resources and unusual fertility of mind. He was 
extremely fruitful in thought, and had retained vast stores of knowl- 
edge on various subjects, acquired in his student days. There are 
very few who commenced their mental labors so early, who worked 
so assiduously, and who continued them to so great an age." 

" As a teacher he was remarkable for the skill with which he com- 
bined perfect familiarity with his pupils on the play-ground, or any 
where out of doors, and thorough control of them in the school- 
room." 

His "intellectual resources" and "fertility of mind" had 
their fullest manifestation during that period of his life when he 
was a teacher, especially in the later portions of it when, " be- 
sides the daily labors of his school, he delivered lectures and 
addresses very frequently, and was active in most of the liter- 
ary enterprises of the time." He was quite adequate to all 
this, because he was "a ready speaker, a clear and forcible 
writer, familiar with many branches of science and literature." 

"He held office many years, and held many offices, yet he died 
poor as the world counts wealth. He never profited by any position 
which he held. Nor did he surrender his opinions for any purpose. 
What he thought he spoke, what he believed he did." 

It may be added that what he thought was truth, and what 
he spoke was wisdom ; that what he believed was good, and 
what he did was righteousness, to a degree rarely attained by 



38 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

men. Through his crystalline soul the light from the pure, 
interior realm of life was transmitted with almost unrefracted 
ray. 

His spirit and temper is shown, and the living presence in 
him of that same overmastering love of freedom and sympathy 
for all the oppressed of every nationality, which lived and 
burned in our revolutionary fathers, so near to whom he was 
born, by the ftict that "in the eighty-first year of his age he 
addressed a land league indignation meeting in Salem, in 
clear and eloquent phrase expressing his earnest sympathy 
with their cause, and urging that the weapons of Ireland's war- 
fare be reason, right, and the truth unyieldingly insisted 
upon." 

There is one trait of General Oliver's character which 
we would fain present, but which quite eludes our pen. It is 
his wit, his humor, his bonhomie. Says one, " His love of 
fun was irresistible, and he possessed a bright, keen humor." 
Another writes, "His wit and humor were keen, exuberant, 
and irrepressible, his industry untiring, his intellectual re- 
sources exhaustless." His humor was like the shimmer of sun- 
light over the landscape in a sultry summer day. His whole 
person quivered with it on occasion. When he laughed he 
laughed all over, frame and flesh all shaking with the merri- 
ment. But it cannot be set down and told with types. Sooner 
could one photograph the colors of a sunset than put forth in 
print the gleam and glow and billowy flow of humor and fun in 
his talk. And there was no frivolity in it. It was altogether 
the play-impulse of a large, active, and many-sided soul, dis- 
porting itself just a little in a natural, spontaneous way. Nor 
was there a trace in it of that dark, malicious bitterness which 
finds its perverse delight in thrusting to the quick a fellow 
human for some peculiar, inborn trait. He made fun for 
others, but never of others. 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 39 

But wit, the intellectual side of humor, this can be told ; and 
one very bright instance we here relate. When the concerts 
were given by the chorus of operatives in Lawrence, there 
were no printed programs ; but General Oliver announced 
the pieces from the stage. At one of the concerts, perhaps 
the last one, in the city hall, the General announced as the last 
piece of the evening, "The Three Bell(e)s of Lawrence;" 
and, as everybody was looking with eager curiosity to see who 
might the three fair damsels be who should come on to the 
stage under such a title, the bells of the three factories began 
to ring for nine o'clock, the vast audience took the joke, and 
in the best of good humor the people dispersed to their homes. 

Perhaps in nothing did his intellectual powers of learning, 
thought, and wit combined so much appear as in his maca- 
ronic poetry. He dropped into macaronic writing in a letter, 
or on a postal, just as easily as he uttered a humorous remark 
in conversation, and the gleam of fun was always lurking in it. 
One poem of this character, containing the names of many 
persons, is especially spoken of. 

In his family life there was a beauty, strength, and tender- 
ness well-nigh as rare as the man himself. He was genial, 
gentle, faithful, watchful ; and nothing lacked in all his life 
of what a man could do for home. A writer says: " In his 
private and family life General Oliver was most kind, gentle 
and lovable. To his friends he was endeared by most pleasing 
traits of character. His vivacity of manner, his wit and humor, 
his merry tales, and his treasures of knowledge made him ex- 
tremely companionable." And another says: "His fund of 
information and his great versatility made him a delightful con- 
versationalist on any topic." Such was the man in home and 
social life. 

He was a communicant of the Unitarian Church, passing to 
it with so many from the Evangelical Church in the twenties. 
At one time before this event he had contemplated being a 



40 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

minister, as we have previously said, and made some prepara- 
tions to that end. In his private school he gave " unsectarian 
religious teaching" on tlie Sabbath to such of his pupils as 
desired. But it was in his spirit and way of life as superin- 
tendent of a cotton mill that he most fully exemplified Chris- 
tianity, and gave the especial evidence that he was a genuine 
follower of the Nazarene. 

In all persons and all things quality, which is density, purity, 
fineness, and in living things verve combined, must have quite 
equal consideration with volume and variety, in order to a full 
and complete estimate, and a just judgment. This is eminently 
true of the subject of our memoir. And the quality of this 
man in the whole substance and spontaneity of his life had its 
perfect disclosure in his musical gifts. This teacher, military 
commander, manufacturer, treasurer of a State, and first chief 
of a labor bureau in the world, was a musician of a high order. 

Whoever has studied with intent gaze the grain and bloom 
of a brilliant flower, and carefully noted the delicate tints 
which in gentle gradations from pink to white w^ere disclosed 
in the petals, and has reflected on the nature of living things, 
cannot have failed to perceive that the vitality of the plant 
came to the acme of the intensity of its manifestation in that 
flower. Music was the exquisite bloom of this manifold soul. 

Ere he was three years old he was learning to sing on his 
mother's knee, and he caught the singing from her, who was 
" a fine singer," it is said; and so we know that his aptitude 
came in his blood. At ten years of age he was a singer in the 
Park Street Church choir, having " a pure and powerful soprano 
voice, which continued into his seventeenth year, when it fell 
to a deep bass " of like quality. Forbidden by his father 
(who shared the prejudices of religious people in those days 
against all except sacred music) to learn to play any instru- 
ment, the powers within him compelled him to disobey ; and 
he mended up an old, cracked, one-keyed flute, and began to 



HENRY K. OLIYEE. 41 

learn on it, hiding it wlienever a visit of his father was 
expected. He was ever in some choir, in that of the Park 
Street Church, as has been said, in the Pierian Sodality and 
the chapel choir at Harvard, in the church choir at Dartmouth, 
and in a Salem choir at first, until he became an organist. He 
began to learn the piano and organ in 1821. As he grew in 
years he grew in musical development, and became " an expert 
performer on the organ, violoncello, flute, and piano forte." 
He was an organist for some thirty-six years or more, namely, 
for about two years, beginning in 1823, at St. Peter's Church, 
Salem ; for two years after at Barton Square Chtirch ; for 
twenty years at the North Church ; and for twelve years at 
the Unitarian Church in Lawrence. About 1824, also, he or- 
ganized in Salem the Mozart Association for the study of the 
works of the great authors, he being its president, organist, 
and conductor. 

But he also rose to the yet higher grade of composer. Hav- 
ing early made himself familiar with the laws of musical har- 
mony he began, at thirty-one, the composition of tunes with 
''Federal Street," and wrote chants, motets, anthems, a Te 
Deum, and many hymn tunes. "In 1849 he edited, with 
Dr. S. P. Tuckerman, a collection of church music, called 
* The National Lyre ; ' and in 1875 published a work, entitled 
'Oliver's Collection of Sacred Music.'" He was, moreover, 
' ' one of the oldest members of the Boston Handel and Haydn 
Society, and of the Salem Oratorio Society, and an honorary 
member of the Portland Haydn Society." 

"The proudest moment of his long musical career came to 
him on the 25th of June, 1872, when at the Great World's 
Peace Jubilee in Boston, in the presence of President Grant, 
Secretaries Fish, Robeson, and Boutwell of the Cabinet, and 
many dignitaries, he stepped from the ranks of the undis- 
tinguished chorus, and, taking his place among the three or 



42 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 



four great composers and conductors of the world, he led, baton 
in hand, a choir of 20,000 persons in his own hymn and choral, 
— in 'Federal Street,' with his own words, * Hail Gentle 
Peace,' " written for the occasion. 

In April, 1876, he was appointed one of the judges at the 
Centennial in Philadelphia, Pa., and assigned to the work on 
musical instruments there, as we have heretofore described. 

But a mere catalos^ue of work and achievement cannot fulfil 
our purpose. The soul of the man in its whiteness and nobil- 
ity exhaled in his music, and that music must be sung in order 
that the whiteness and nobility may be seen. As a specimen 
we have selected, and here present, what we believe to be his 
finest composition, the tune " Merton." 

MERTON. 



REV. PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 




H. K. OLIVER. 



m 



Ye golden lamps of lieav'n, fare-well, With all your fee - ble light ; 



g::=3 



"P -g - — g- 



zHt: 



mz^z 






^-—(2^ 



m 



^-' 



:p= 



m^m^^m 



— gi- 



f-g^-ETi^bri;-—: 



3] 



Farewell, thou ev - er- changing moon,Pale em - press of the night. 



^ 






■V- 



Mq-- 



I^V^frr. 



-■^ 



.«_L 



-(^ 



This tune, like his more familiar but less intellectual and in- 
dividual " Federal Street," was not properly speaking composed. 
It came into his mind as a sweet echo from a far away land, 
and the way of its coming was this. One Sabbath in 1843, in 



HENRY K. OLIVER. 43 

the North Church, Salem, of which General Oliver was mu- 
<*i'jal director and organist from 1828 to 1849, and Rev. John 
Brazer was at the time pastor, Dr. Doddridge's beautiful hymn, 
beginning "Ye golden lamps of heav'n, farewell," was to be 
sung as the last piece in the afternoon. All through the day 
the director could recall no tune that seemed adapted to the 
words. The afternoon sermon had got well under way, but 
the director was not listening to it. Instead he " was conning 
the words of the hymn, more intent upon them than upon the 
words of the preacher," when suddenly a melody came floating 
into his mind. It being his custom always to have blank music 
paper at hand, he at once pencilled down the melody, and set 
the other three parts to it, thus completing the score for his 
own use. Then he made a copy of each several part on a sin- 
gle staff", and handed the slip to the one of his quartet choir 
who sang that part — all of whom could read music at sight, 
and " were singers of rare excellence both in voice and skill." 
So when the reading of the hymn was ended, the organ 
sounded, the choir arose and sang with earnest heart and well 
befitting tones ; and thus was this tune, which the angels had 
brought, given forth that day unto men. 

Merton is a unique tune. It is too high and fine and differ- 
ent to be imitated. In originality, in delicacy, in purity, 
spirituality, and aspiration, it has few equals and no superiors 
in the realm of American sacred song. It seems like a lofty 
Ionic column of pure, Pentelic marble, standing in the soft 
moonlight of a summer night, when the moon at her full rides 
high up towards the zenith. 

But it is not for the tune itself, but to reveal the soul through 
which it came, that the above has been written. Only through 
a soul large and white, like one of the heavenly gates of pearl, 
could the angels have breathed such a tune. Who knows the 
tune, and loves it in his heart, may know in so far the grain 



44 HENEY K. OLIVER. 

and grade of this stainless, knightly soul, that soared with the 
eagle, sang with the lark, and walked in the ways of the living 
God with a perfect heart. 



His Masterfulness. 

If we were asked to decide wherein, most of all, the great- 
ness of this man of manifold powers lay, we should answer that 
it was in his ability to master whatever he set himself upon. 

He was master of himself, and his life was a career of singu- 
lar purity, integrity, good-will, and well-doing. He was mas- 
ter of his pupils, and that by such excellent powers, so benefi- 
cently exerted, that to the last they loved to think and speak 
of him as "Master Oliver;" and they evidently felt towards 
him something as President Garfield felt towards his president, 
Mark Hopkins of Williams College. He became master of 
many studies, some of which at first were distasteful to him, 
but in which he acquired by sheer force of mind and will a pos- 
itive delight. He was master of military affairs in such emi- 
nent deo-ree that he made the militia reo^iment which he 
commanded well-nigh equal in drill to troops of the regular 
army ; and afterwards he raised the standard of efficiency of 
the militia of the whole State, when put in charge over it. He 
grasped at once, and became master in a few months, of the 
whole business of manufacturing cotton cloth, gathering and 
controlling many hundreds of operatives, and conducting the 
manufacturing operations of a great corporation with as much 
smoothness and precision as he did his girls school of fifty 
pupils, — a gigantic work wrought by a giant man. He be- 
came master of finance, and bore the unexampled burdens of 
his oflSce as war treasurer of this Commonwealth so easily, 
that few realized how 2:reat the burdens were, or understood 



HENEY K. OLIVER. 45 

what service he was rendering ; and as a master he wrought 
his pioneer work in this office. Above all other titles well 
may he ever be known as " Master Oliver." 

His Cast of Mind. 

Whoever surveys the life of General Oliver cannot but feel 
that he did not gain that high place in the world's knowledge 
and esteem, which his powers deserved ; and the reason may 
justly be asked. It lay in the structure of his mind, and the 
nature of his personality as springing therefrom. 

His mind was fundamentally discursive rather than concen- 
trative. His life ran out rich and strong on various lines of 
thought and action, but never did and could not bring all its 
force to bear on any one work. His powers worked apart, 
and with plenitude of results ; but these were like rays dis- 
persed from a convex reflector. The several beams were 
seen, each in its separate line ; but in seeing them one did not 
feel the full measure of the soul from which they sprang. His 
selfhood did not centre in his will sufficiently to secure the 
working of all his gifts together in such a way as to constitute 
him, in the highest degree which those gifts should have 
enabled him to be, a personal force in society. He himself 
recognized this at length, as when, near the close of his life, 
surveying the beginning of his career, he spoke of the " entire 
self-distrust " which he felt at that time, and said "that this 
distrust had always impeded his labors." 

Last Words. 

We sum up the whole man in a single sa^nng. General 
Oliver had the eye of an eagle, the frame of a lion, and the 
heart of a woman ; and the large and noble powers of such a 



46 HENRY K. OLIVER. 

being "were blended together into a fine harmonious unity in 
him. He was a kingl}'^ man in person, in endowments, and in 
action ; and the manifoldness of his career was according to 
the greatness and diversity of his powers. He Avas a teacher 
of youth, and he came to be of the first order, attaining to the 
same rank, though not to the same fame, with Arnold of 
Rugby. While a school teacher he became a military ofiicer 
of such excellence as to receive promotions extraordinary if 
not unexampled in this Commonwealth, during the period in 
which his service occurred. From being adjutant-general of 
the State he was called, without previous acquaintance with the 
business, to take charge of an empty building, select the stafl', 
gather the help, put in, set up and start the machinery, and 
manage the manufacturing operations of a great cotton-mill 
corporation ; and such was his power to grasp and master new 
afiairs, his keenness in reading men, his judgment in selecting 
them, and the " potency of his nature " in moving them to act 
in willing agreement with himself, that from the first yard of 
cloth the product of the mills was in the highest grade, and 
for the whole period that he had charge they were a complete 
success. He was the war treasurer of this Commonwealth, 
as Andrew was the war governor ; and without a flaw ot 
action, but in the hour of exigency with ready daring he bore 
every burden as it came, handling vaster sums of money than 
any official in his place before or since, and for an average 
pay about half what is now provided. He was the founder 
of the work of this Bureau ; and in the fulfilment of his duties 
endured with dauntless courage the brunt of a sore conflict, 
with clear-sighted devotion breaking the way for those who 
should come after. And finally he was a religious musician, a 
writer of tunes that cannot die — a "sweet singer of Israel," 
whose name will live in dear regard while men shall sins; in 
English speech to the worship of God. The exquisite quality 



HENRY K. OLIVEE. 47 

of this high gift has made him to rank among the purest, 
choicest souls of his day. Teacher of youth, general of sol- 
diers, manager of mills, treasurer of the State, first chief of 
this Bureau, musician and writer of sacred songs that live 
perennial in the Christian heart, what parallel to the man and 
his career in all these lines shall be found in our time? 



OCT 28 19U1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 069 070 3 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 069 070 3 # 



HolHiiger 

pH S5 

MiUItiinFOS-2193 



